Field Trips

In Person and Virtual Field Trips

Not Your Usual Stop-And-Stare or Free-Day Field Trip!

The Chisholm Trail Heritage Center is a relatively new facility built in 1997 and expanded in 2003, ’05, and ’07. Our mission is to celebrate and perpetuate the history, art, and culture of the Chisholm Trail, the American Cowboy, and the American West.

In this capacity, we host educational classes both at our facility and virtually. We have a field trip for all grade levels PreK – college! Our field trips are based on Oklahoma Academic Standards & TEKS Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Our museum and education programs are the only ones of its kind in southern Oklahoma.

Public, private, and homeschool teachers are encouraged to book their dates early, as popular sessions often fill at the beginning of the year. Title I schools can apply to attend the Center for free. There are also limited funds for travel reimbursements. These funds also go quickly, so apply early.

Sessions

The Center has five sessions per year:

Spring Oklahoma Land Giveaways or Chisholm Trail History
Summer Program which rotates annually
Fall Abernathy Boys
Winter Holidays on the Trail and History Heroes: Famous Figures from the Chisholm Trail Region with an emphasis on Oklahoma

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) are at the heart of all sessions for all ages.

Within each of these sessions, various modules are chosen. Students learn to demonstrate mathematic skills and business knowledge, use their imaginations, enhance their art appreciation, and develop and articulate concepts under the auspices of history and social studies.

Why Choose Us?

We are different than other museums. This dramatic increase in attendance each year is due to many factors including the following:

  • We are the only nonprofit in Oklahoma that is a Great Expectation Model School Certified. This rigorous certification program mandates training, mentorships, and educators interacting with children by asking questions that require deep thought and higher reasoning.
  • We are the only facility in this region that focuses on academic standards set forth by the Oklahoma and Texas Departments of Education. Our educators work with the child’s classroom or home school teacher to ensure a productive day at a meaningful point in their day to day learning.
  • We rotate four umbrella curricula so students can attend multiple years or multiple times in the same school year without repeating a learning module.

                                                                                                  Great Expectations 2021-2022 Badge

Accessibility

The Center can accommodate most special needs students. Our facility is handicapped accessible. Since most of our exhibits have components that stimulate not only sight, but hearing, touch, and smell, students with sensory issues can have a similar experience to other students.

Our professional educators can also work with you to provide a custom program. An example: Using animal pelts to teach the story of the Trail to visually impaired students. We also have included a sign language interpreter for some of our groups.

The Center also has educators and guides available in different languages with prior notice.

ADA Compliant Parking

Select programming is funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council and National Endowment for the Arts

Oklahoma Arts Council Logo Red and White   National Endowment for the arts logo